LCACM

The Electric Car Will Usher in Smart Grid 2.0

Great article. The author shows what is possible with technological innovation. I am in favor of electric cars, as I am more concerned about people's lungs than I am about Globall Warming. I am surprised that we are not concerned about our lungs, only about Global Warming. Electric cars will give our lungs freedom from noxious fumes, that we have to breathe during the morning/evening commute from work. Here are some thoughts to some doubts expressed by different commentators.

Comment: " just love America's coal powered electric cars! " It is true that some of the electricity used by electric cars will be generated by coal burning plants. CO2 sequestration research is showing rapid progress. So even though the power plant will be burning coal, the fumes will be sequestered underground and not irritating your lungs during morning commute.

Comment:"40,000 electric cars in the States? What's that, golf carts?" Toyota Prius cannot be classified as a golf cart.

Comment: "Most everything in this article is nonsense unless you believe that the governments...Grid 2.0 will un-employ people, raise the cost of living " Building the smart grid and creating the large scale storage systems to store Wind and Solar power will only increase the number of employees. US has a chance of saving $700B a year in oil imports going to unfriendly countries, who in turn fund Talliban and other terrorists.

Comment:"No it won't. Natural Gas, not electric, must be the future."
Natural Gas will be very much part of the Electric future. Natural gas is the cleanest fuel to generate electricity at the Electric Power plant. Secondly, fuel cell technology can be used to convert NG to electricity directly, though this is not suitable for cars but home appliances.

Detroit's Big Three and the Democrats' Economic Illiteracy

$73 an hour is definitely on the higher side for assembly line workers, and needs to be addressed. It is high time that the UAW unions acted more responsibly and consider the long term implications of their actions. On the other hand, many of these CEOs earn upwards of $50M a year, which works out to $25,000 an hour. That is over 300 times more per hour compared to the $73/hour. Considering that the Wall St bailout was $700B, not sure why we are suddenly so concerned over a $25B of the Auto Industry. Additionally, the Big Three manufacture cars that people buy, not toxic financial products like the Wall St bankers.